Our band director told us that Matt Harloff is coming to watch us and be our clinician for our show. Who is this guy? Why is he such a big deal? And what should i expect?

Hi, I'm not a band kid myself (I was in orchestra, sorry), but my little brother is. Sorry if this is the wrong place, I'm kind of at a loss for where to post this.

This past week was his first band camp with his high school marching band. He seemed to be having an okay time with the drills and the marching and the music, and I'm so happy for him. However, tonight was the last night of camp and the band (student) leadership threw a picnic dinner party of sorts. Food, games, normal stuff, until closer to the end.

It's about 9 pm at this point (I wasn't there but I've heard the story and watched videos of this happening), and the final finale of the night is the senior band kids giving speeches and passing the baton to freshman. Again, awesome stuff, but to get there everyone has to walk from the band room to the football field. On the way, there's a sort of rite of passage. It's clarified that it is not mandatory, but a majority of the freshman band kids participate. They are blindfolded and led to the football field by other band kids while excessive noise is played around them. Think car horns, drumsticks on parking signs, bass drums, etc. Without going into too much detail, I'll say that my brother was overwhelmed and chose not to participate.

Now, as a former orchestra kid, this feels weird to me. My question is, is this normal? This tradition has been going on for a while at this high school, and I've heard that the student leadership has advocated for it continuing. Again, is this normal? I may be seeing this as an extreme when it really isn't, but it radiates with peer pressure and I don't like that. Have you had a similar experience like this? Should I speak up and say this is weird?

This year, I was put in leadership and the way my school has done it is that leadership has a big hand in teaching our incoming freshmen. This year batch of freshmen brought me two tubas, two trombones, and three euphonium players. I cannot stress how happy I was to get this many new players. I am still so grateful to have gotten so many players to improve our sound. There is one slight issue though. One of the euph freshmen has some sort of learning disability and a slight disability with his posture (correct me if this is wrong way to refer to those with these issues. I’d rather not be disrespectful and ignorant.).

We had our first week of summer band back in May where we first met our new freshmen and taught them how to march. We usually have one week in many and won’t start the rest of summer band until July. I was trying to give all the new kids grace and not be crazy nit picky about marching when it was only a week, but the kid who I mentioned has the disability still looks the exact same as he did in May.

I’ve tried so many different ways to fix him and teach him how while also remaining patient and respectful while also treating him as another person, but nothing has seemingly worked. He’s relying on a lot of other people around him for and sort of visuals after I’ve worked with him alone on everything for hours. He’s can’t hold set at all without dropping his horn after 10 seconds. His marching technique and posture is, to be fair, really bad. I’ve been a little bit less strict with him to give him a chance to catch up, but he’s late on everything and it’s getting to the point where my director asked me for my opinion on potentially cutting him from the show because he’s lagging behind so badly.

I should say this now, he is not the only person with a disability in my section. Another one of my new kids has a similar problem, but without the physical disability. He also took a bit of time to catch up and get in the swing of things, but he ended up managing and is better than some of my sophomores and I cannot stress just how proud I am of him for being able to catch up. Is there any advice anyone can offer me here? I’ve been trying so hard to teach him and include him in everything and catch him up, but the idea of cutting him is slowly starting to make more sense just for the good of the section and for the band as a whole. Cutting him for his disability is that last thing I want to do. I feel extremely ableist and ignorant if that’s the reason why. It’s just that the more I see him slip up the same things I just got done working with him while the rest of the band progresses is am making me worried. What’s the advice from everyone? Please give me anything. I’d really rather not cut him, but if you all think it’s for the best, please tell me so. Thank you.

“The NFHS does not classify marching band as a sport because it considers marching band a performing arts and music education activity rather than an athletic competition,” says Jordan Morey, manager of communications and media relations at NFHS. “While marching band requires significant physical conditioning, teamwork and skill, the NFHS places it under its performing arts programs because its primary purpose is musical and artistic performance.”

https://substack.com/@christinabishop1/p-199454866

After my Discord account was disabled by a scammer named orlandohyatt, who wanted my bank account and a 200-dollar Apple Card, my therapist told me to find other communities outside of Discord. After doing much research, I discovered Kaboose, which I thought would be an alternative to Discord. Until I noticed there were a lot of videos and sessions that felt less like talking to my friends on Discord and more like group therapy. Chat rooms felt rigid, scheduled, and restricted for people like myself who want to make good friends, talk, and share my interests and feelings. Why does something so simple have to be made more complex with group therapy videos that make you feel at the end of the day like you cannot ever find community or good friends?

Does anyone remember the limelight app? It had a forum that was like Glassdoor but for non-union theaters? there is a theater local to me that i remember got terrible reviews there, but i can’t remember the specifics and now it looks like the website is gone. does anyone know if something similar? i don’t really want to work at or support a theater that doesn’t treat its employees well.

I'm thinking of quitting marching band

So, for background info, I'm a freshman first year marching, and it's fun and I like it just the communication is so bad its actually ruining my experience. The band director doesn't say anything till the day of. she misspeaks to where you think it's one thing but it's actually another. The fees can't be paid until literally a few hours before the deadline. But heaven forbid you miss one day of practice because something came up without telling her. And on top of all that my section won't try to get better, they won't practice or anything. in all honesty the reason I haven't quit is because of the thousand plus dollars I paid/am paying.

(I know I ranted but its honestly so frustrating)

This was not a positive or helpful experience for her as a child and young adult, and we cover exactly why from her perspective. Landmark comes from Est, which was taken directly from Scientology, so there's a lot of compare-and-contrast in this episode, too. Enjoy!

This was something I was wondering throughout my time in high school. What is the effect of the band Director on the band, and if the band is previously successful, would the teachings from previous band directors help carry on the band if the band director is not coaching the band as well? Many successful bands I have seen have been successful from their establishment. Also, for new band directors who are trying to change an old culture, how hard is that culture often to change? Is success usually the way to make cultures change in band?

So my band director, after our school year ended, emailed my parents and I, saying that he'd love to have a meeting about marching band next year. Of course I was super excited about this, and I thought that it was his way of telling me that he thought I would make a good drum major. (Spoiler alert: literally the exact opposite)

He started off the meeting by playing part of an episode of Young Sheldon, the one where Sheldon goes to high school when he's really young and corrects everyone on the rules. Then he was saying how this was how other people were perceiving me (I was assistant drum major last year), and that 6 people had come forward and mentioned that they didnt like something or other about how I was leading. Things like me being too strict at the wrong times or other things like that. I was heartbroken, as I have poured my heart, soul, and body into this band. I have POTS (a heart condition) and have still been pushing my body to its limit for band. I always show up 10 minutes early, and try to encourage everyone and be nice to everyone, but some people just seem to have a problem with me. I literally transferred school to be with this band because our school district was splitting and I wouldve been cut off from the program, so I couldn't really help but take it a bit personally.

When I was younger I had a lot of issues (I'm diagnosed ADHD, undiagnosed but suspected Autism), and would brag a lot or try to take things over, and nobody corrected me for a while, until maybe 7th grade? I would correct people on things I saw that I could fix, and some people hated me for that. I had been working on myself in therapy for years after that, and thought I was doing a great job as Assistant Drum Major, so it broke my heart to hear that people didn't like what I was doing. I am a huge people pleaser and always try my best to make everyone comfortable, often at the expense of myself, and as such had been literally straining my body to keep up with the demands of the band so that they would follow my example and not be lazy. I guess that didnt work because people were really upset with me by the end of the season, and I had no idea until my director mentioned it.

My director straight up told me that some people had issues with me, and that he wanted me to just be a person in the band, rather than Drum Major. He said that I was the most technically skilled at the drum major auditions last year, and that if it weren't for those people, I would've literally been drum major without a doubt. For reference, I am going into my Junior year of High School, and have done marching band since 6th grade. Hearing that I would've had the position if not for those few things was soul-crushing, and I started tearing up right then and there. I asked if there was any chance of me being Drum Major and he said yes, but that it just depends who tries out for it.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, he started holding leadership meetings with anyone who wanted to be section leader or drum major. I of course show up, hopeful that I could still be drum major. We worked on basic things, like conducting and commands, which everyone was seeming to struggle with except for me. (I dont mean this to sound egotistical, they were just less experienced and I already had most of the things down.)

Now about 2 weeks ago, he held auditions. We conducted, did commands, and had to write an essay as to why we think we should be leadership. I thought I did really well, and he told me that I did a great job, so I watched everyone else audition too and cheered them on as best as I could. I honestly believed for a while that I was going to get Drum Major, as everything had been going well with the Summer season (we didnt have a drum major for summer, rather our center Snare just did different roll offs and staff would instruct). Then the email came. It wasn't me, but my section leader from the previous year, who was also going into her Junior year. Of course I'm really happy for her, but my heart is crushed and I dont know what to do. I was appointed as woodwind captain, and I'm excited to work with them, but I'm so disheartened about not being drum major, as I spent most of the time between seasons thinking I for sure had the role.

A little while after he sent the email with the roles he said that if everything went well, I was his first pick for drum major next year (my Senior year). Thats extra heartbreaking, knowing that I had the position if not for those small little things that I could've corrected now that I knew what they were.

Sorry to ramble, (and I'm sure I repeated some things,) but I dont know what to do. If anyone has some advice, I'd really appreciate that.